Androids
by Sylvyr Elf
Summary: Androids 16, 17, and 18 have trying to stay out of trouble since the end of the Cell games. Now trouble has come looking for them. As they fight for survival they learn some of the terrible secrets of the Red Ribbon Army. 18 and Krillin...and maybe someon
1. Default Chapter

Androids: Prologue

She ran as fast as she could, her bloody feet stumbling in the snow.  
  
It was like a nightmare. She had to get away. Savahn. Adrian. What had they  
DONE to them? If they caught her...no...she had to keep running. It was all  
wrong.  
  
A shadow flew over her head and landed just ahead of her. She looked up at  
the caped figure in terror.  
  
"Your one of his freaks come to take me back. You can't make me! I won't go!"  
she shrieked.  
  
The figure just gave her a curious look. He was close to seven feet tall,  
towering over her by almost two feet. He had narrow eyes that almost looked  
cruel, long pointed ears and, strangely enough, a pair of short antenna. If  
his facial features did not already set him apart from every other person on  
the planet his bright green skin would.  
  
He opened his mouth to say something when the thwup of an air gun sounded  
through the night and ended her hysterical shrieking. As the small girl  
collapsed in the snow he ducked into the shadows of an overhanging cliff and  
watched.  
  
Two men walked out of the darkness to the moonlit patch of snow where she lay.  
  
"We got her Doc!" the larger of the two called out.  
  
"Excellent, we cannot afford to allow her to escape." The speaker was a  
small man with a thatch of dark gray hair and eyes as black as midnight. He  
wore a long white lab coat and a name tag which read 'Morrison.' He eyed the  
girl with a detached look. "She could have ruined everything."  
  
"Watch-ya goin to do with her Doc?" the big man asked eagerly. He had  
heard rumors of what Doc did to people who made him angry, and it was never  
pretty. If he was lucky the Doc might ask him to help punish the girl. He  
looked down at her pretty face. She had caused him a lot of trouble that  
night, he would enjoy taking it out on her.  
  
The detached look never left Doc's eyes as he replied, "I'm going to listen  
to her scream. Bring her. Now!" He turned to walk away.  
  
The big man stooped to pick up the figure lying in the snow when he caught  
sight of the figure standing in the shadows.  
  
"Who-whose there?"  
  
The figure stepped forward, his green skin nightmarish in the moonlight. "If  
you so much as touch her I will blow you to smithereens."  
  
The big man looked him over and noticed that he was unarmed.  
  
"How you plan to do that? You ain't got no gun." A large bulge of tobacco  
in his cheek slurred his speech.  
  
"Do not concern yourself with how. Just be aware that I can do it."  
  
The big man smirked and grabbed the girl by her arm. He did not notice the  
small yellow ball which was growing in the palm of the other's hand.  
  
"I told you not to touch her."  
  
The big man ignored the menace in his voice and started to pull the girl off  
the ground.  
  
"Seein as you're unarmed I don't see that you can sto---" his words were  
cut short by a blast of energy. The girl flopped back down in the snow his  
severed hand still attached to her arm. It was the only piece of him that was  
large enough to be recognizable.  
  
Doc had turned at the green being's first words and had carefully watched the  
entire encounter. Now the creature turned to him, another glowing ball  
forming in his hand.  
  
"Do you want to try too?"  
  
"No" he replied, backing away, "I cannot match a power like that, not yet  
anyway. When I can though I will come back for her."  
  
The creature watched warily as he turned and vanished into the night. His  
keen hearing followed the man's footsteps long after human ears would have  
heard nothing. When he could no longer hear the crunching of feet in snow he  
knew there was no danger he and the girl would be disturbed. He walked over  
and looked down at her.  
  
She lay face down in the snow, which was stained crimson beneath her, he  
wondered for a minute if the shot had killed her, but then saw the slight  
movement of her breathing. A small dart jutted from her neck and he realized  
it was a tranquilizer. The blood had not come from the shot but from hundreds  
of tiny lacerations all over her body. Her bloody feet had chunks of glass  
embedded in them. Her skin was very pale and her hair was a strange dark  
lavender color. She was extremely small for a human and he estimated her age  
to be somewhere between 10 and 12.  
  
He knelt and removed his former opponent's hand from her arm. He started to  
scoop her into his arms but stopped as he realized that her ragged clothes  
would offer her little protection against the wind as he flew.  
  
He took his heavy cape off and wrapped it around her careful to make sure the  
weight was distributed evenly so as not to crush her. As he lifted her from  
the snow he was surprised at his own gentleness. He was a fighter, he had  
been born for that purpose and it was all he knew, all he cared for, but  
something about this tiny girl evoked from him a gentleness he did not know  
he possessed.  
  
He reached the cave which had served as his home for the last three months.  
He crouched down and laid her across the pallet in one corner of the cave. He  
took a pot from another corner and went out to fill it with fresh snow.  
  
When he returned he melted the snow over a low fire and waited for it to get  
comfortably warm. Then he took it and washed her wounds, carefully removing  
the shards of glass from her feet. The clothing wrapped around her tiny form  
was in a deplorable state. He bound the worst of her wounds, noticing that  
they seemed deeper on her back than anywhere else. He carefully rewrapped his  
cape around her to keep her warm. She never stirred through all his  
ministrations.  
  
He turned and left the cave, taking off and heading due south.  
  
***********************  
  
"So she got away?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Someone helped her."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"We don't know, Sir."  
  
"What do you bumbling imbeciles know?"  
  
"He was green."  
  
"Green?"  
  
"Yes Sir. Green and powerful."  
  
"Hm, yes. Had you installed that prototype?"  
  
"I'm afraid so."  
  
"Then it's gone also?"  
  
"Yes sir I'm afraid so."  
  
"Very well, all her memories of the lab will be stored on the prototype?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good. Shut it off."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You heard me Morrison, shut it off!"  
  
"It might kill her."  
  
"It will be an acceptable loss. Our operations here cannot be jeopardized  
by her knowledge. Shut it off. If she dies it is her own fault for leaving  
the perimeters of the lab."  
  
"Very well Doctor. As you command."  
  
***********************  
  
Prototype 22 deactivation sequence begun.  
  
Total shutdown or sleep sequence mode?  
  
The man stared at the blinking question mark on his computer screen for a few  
moments before keying in the command for the sleep sequence rather than the  
total shut down command.  
  
***********************  
  
He returned to the cave and set down his bundle, the girl was still sleeping.  
He only knew she was alive because he could hear the slight whisper of her  
breathing.  
  
He watched her for a moment before turning his back to her and seating  
himself in the doorway to meditate.  
  
Almost immediately the image of a man with spiky black hair and a goofy grin  
popped into his mind. His visage darkened with hatred. "I will get stronger.  
The time will come when I face you again and this time I will destroy you."  
  
***********************  
  
She woke up slowly and tried to move. Something extraordinarily heavy lay  
over her. She shrieked in panic as she was unable to lift the heavy fabric.  
  
He turned at the sound of her voice, and crossed the room to kneel at her  
side. She tried to shrink away at the sight of him.  
  
"Calm down."  
  
"No! Get away. You're one of his monsters come to take me back. I won't  
go!"  
  
"Take you back where?"  
  
His question must have startled her because she looked up at him in shock.  
  
"You mean he didn't send you to take me back to his lab?"  
  
"What lab?"  
  
She had started to struggle with the cape again so he reached out and gently  
pulled it off her.  
  
The instant the cape left her shoulders she leapt across the room with a  
nimbleness that was uncanny in a human, especially one with her injuries, and  
tried to press herself into the corner farthest from the creature. He didn't  
seem to take insult in her attempt to get away from him. She would have tried  
for the cave mouth but he was between her and it.  
  
He watched her tremble in the corner, he could have easily caught her when  
she jumped, but it would only serve to frighten her more. And frightening her  
did not seem like a terribly wise thing to do given her current health. He  
lifted the cape and wrapped it around his shoulders disinterestedly.  
Hopefully she would take this as a sign that he was not interested in causing  
her pain. He did not acknowledge her shocked gasp as he easily shouldered the  
heavy cape.  
  
"What lab?" he asked her again. "What did they do to you there?" The idea  
of someone hurting a child like her made him see red. A little of that anger  
must have shown in his voice for she stammered in fear as she spoke.  
  
"M-my father's lab."  
  
"He do that to you?" he asked, pointing to her injuries.  
  
"Y-yes."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"H-he said he was t-testing some kind of prototype."  
  
"A prototype?"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"What kind of-" He broke off as she suddenly started screaming. She  
dropped to the ground clutching her head and rocking back and forth in pain.  
  
He rushed forward trying to detect the cause of her pain.  
  
"He's shutting it off..." Her eyes rolled back into her head and she  
collapsed into his arms her head hanging back limply. She slowly blinked her  
eyes a few times to make them focus. "Who...wha...where am I."  
  
She had quit trembling and no longer seemed to be the least bit afraid of  
him. He had heard that some humans sometimes got a sickness where they  
thought they were more than one person and acted accordingly depending on who  
they thought they were. Maybe he had rescued an escapee from a mental  
hospital.  
  
"I found you last night in the snow. You were being chased...do you  
remember?"  
  
"A little. It's vague and foggy, like some kind of dream."  
  
"What just happened to you?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Two seconds ago you were screaming bloody murder about a lab and  
creatures and not going back. You were terrified of me and now your sitting  
there calm as you please, as if you were in a restaurant waiting for  
afternoon tea!"  
  
"Oh dear, I must seem like a schitso or something."  
  
"I did entertain the idea that you might be. You want to tell me your  
story?"  
  
"Sure, my name is Rana. Rana Morrison." She pronounced her r's in a  
strange breathy way so that what she said sounded like"Suhre, my name is  
Rhanna. Rhanna Mohrrison."  
  
"My father is Dr. Mark Morrison. He works with a bunch of other scientist  
making weapons and stuff like that. A lot of the stuff they do is illegal. I  
know one of the other scientist actually experimented on his own kids!  
Anyway, Father wanted to test this new computer prototype and I guess he  
decided I would make a good guinea pig. Somehow I escaped, I have a vague  
memory of somehow passing through the walls. Somehow I wound up outside in  
the snow and that's where you found me. After you brought me here they must  
have shut down the prototype which had all my memories of the lab on it. So I  
guess I can't remember why you were so scary. This must sound kind of crazy  
to you, huh?"  
  
"I have definitely heard of crazier things happening."  
  
She looked at him noticing for the first time since she snapped out of her  
daze that he had green skin.  
  
"I guess maybe you have."  
  
"What do you plan to do with yourself now?" he asked.  
  
"I guess I'll go get a job so I can go to college."  
  
"College? How old are you?"  
  
"Fourteen. That's old enough to get in if you do real good on the  
entrance exams."  
  
He didn't let on but he was surprised at her age. He had figured she could  
not possibly be older than twelve.  
  
"What do you plan to do at college?"  
  
"I'm going to study to be a doctor."  
  
"Like your father."  
  
"NO! Not ever like him. He hurts people, that's all his inventions ever  
do. I want to help people."  
  
"How much do you think this will cost?" He had never met someone who was  
quite so earnest about helping others...well maybe he had but _he_ was  
different...he could take care of himself, she could not. He was struck with  
the rather sudden desire to do everything he could to help her.  
  
"About 200 Zen."  
  
"I think I might be able to help..."  
  
"NO! I won't take anyone's help. I can do it on my own. I will work for  
my living, I won't take anything from anyone."  
  
Her outburst surprised and amused him but he pretended to be angry. "GIVE  
YOU...who said anything about giving you anything. I was just going to offer  
you a job."  
  
"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. What kind of job."  
  
"Well, you see, I'm not a very good housekeeper and I'm a terrible cook,  
so I need someone to clean up after me and cook my meals." She looked  
skeptically around the neatly ordered cave. "Oh this isn't my home. I've only  
been staying here for a couple of days while I train, I haven't been here  
long enough to mess it up yet. My house is in Orange Star City not to far  
from the College as a matter of fact. If you will come stay in the guest room  
at my house and do my cooking and cleaning I will pay your way through  
college and set you up in your profession once you graduate. You can work for  
me until you graduate and then you will be on your own."  
  
"OK, I guess it's a deal but it seems overgenerous on your part."  
  
"No, I really do need a housekeeper."  
  
"OK."  
  
"There are some clothes and food in there" he said pointing to the bundle  
on the floor. "I am going to go to the house and get the guest room ready."  
  
He turned to leave.  
  
"Wait."  
  
"What is it now?" Now that he had his mind set on going her demand had  
gotten him a little annoyed.  
  
"You...um didn't tell me your name."  
  
He reached the entrance and turned to look at her, "It's Piccolo."  
  
He lifted off the ground without another word. He was glad he had never found  
a use for the money he had won when he took second place in the martial arts  
tournament. Now as much as he hated the older Namek he needed to go see Kami  
about finding a house in Orange Star City.  
  
***********************   



	2. Awakening

Chapter 1: Awakening

He lay on his back, his cold icy blue eyes staring up at the midday sky. He  
couldn't remember how he got in this place.  
  
He sat up and looked around, trying to recall how he had gotten here. He was  
in a canyon which was pockmarked with giant holes as if a monstrous battle  
had taken place.  
  
Not far from him was a large man who looked as confused as he was. The other  
man was tall and bulky, his head shaved except for an orange-red mohawk. He  
was dressed in a black body suit with green armor that wrapped around his  
upper torso and rose to a crest around his neck.  
  
He brushed a strand of black hair out of his face as he closed his eyes in  
reflection.  
  
**********************************  
  
Life had always been a game to him. True it was a dangerous game, but he  
loved the thrill of life on the edge.  
  
He had traveled around the world with his sister and their large silent  
friend. He had enjoyed stealing the van for their search for Goku. It had  
made the game so much more interesting. He didn't mind that it annoyed his  
sister either.  
  
She was such a no nonsense type.  
  
He remembered how she looked with her short blonde hair flying as she climbed  
out the window of their stolen van to blow the forest they were bouncing  
through away.  
  
Annoying her always made the game fun.  
  
They had arrived at the Son residence and promptly trashed it for having the  
audacity of being empty of inhabitants.  
  
Then they had headed for an island where 16 had sensed Goku's energy. They  
had arrived only to be challenged by Piccolo.  
  
The fight had just been getting good when that monster showed up. It had  
tried to get to them but Piccolo intervened.  
  
He had watched in amazement as the strange insect looking creature smashed  
Piccolo into the ground repeatedly. The creature had lifted Piccolo's  
battered form to it's face, it's stinger like tail whipping around behind it.  
  
"I could absorb you Piccolo," It's voice was rasping and cruel, "but I  
already have enough of your cells, You are just a waste product."  
  
An energy beam cut through Piccolo's chest and the creature dropped him into  
the cold ocean waves.  
  
He had thought he hated Piccolo, but the monster's calloused treatment of  
Piccolo stirred an unexpected rage in his chest.  
  
"YOU MONSTER"  
  
The battle which ensued was a frantic attempt to save himself and his sister  
from certain death-----or worse. Just when he thought all was lost 16 had  
stepped in and turned the tide. He had gotten overconfident when 16 was  
winning and had not heeded his warnings.  
  
He did not realize the monster was behind him until it was too late. He  
turned in time to watch the monster's stinger like tail open out like a bell  
as it descended over his head. He had struggled vainly for a few futile  
minutes before darkness engulfed him.  
  
***********************  
  
'I don't understand. I was absorbed by Cell. I shouldn't be here.'  
  
17 slowly pushed himself off the ground. He was stiff from his battle with  
Cell. He walked over to the other person.  
  
"16, are you all right."  
  
"Yes." As always his voice was slow and mechanical.  
  
"What happened? How did we get here? Did you and 18 defeat Cell?"  
  
"No. We did not. After absorbing you Cell became twice as powerful. I was  
no longer able to fend him off. Vegeta and his son arrived to fight him..."  
in his slow monotone voice 16 filled him in on the fight with Cell up to the  
point where he was destroyed. Silence ensued for several minutes.  
  
"So you don't know what happened to Cell?"  
  
16 didn't answer. In the moments of silence several birds had descended  
to settle on his armor and he didn't wish to startle them. He had already  
told 17 everything he knew and it was a rhetorical question anyway.  
  
"Essentially that brat, Gohan, blew Cell into the next dimension and they  
used the Dragon Balls to wish everyone he killed back to life. You two must  
have qualified as dead." As always her voice was cold and indifferent, but he  
could tell she was amused to have snuck up on them.  
  
His expression never faltered, "And you didn't qualify?"  
  
"No. He spit me out when Gohan beat him badly enough."  
  
"Well, we are all together now so we should complete our programming."  
  
"We can't."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Goku is dead. Cell killed him and he wouldn't allow them to wish him  
back."  
  
"Hmmm...so what did they wish for?"  
  
"They used the first two wishes to bring back everyone he killed and  
repair the damage done to the planet. After Goku refused to come back they  
tried to use the wish to turn us into normal humans but the dragon couldn't  
do it. Then--"  
  
"They tried to do WHAT!?" 17 stared at his sister in shock. "Why would  
they want to do something like that?"  
  
  
"Uh...never mind..." she looked flustered andt...was she blushing!? She  
hurried on, "When they couldn't do that they used the wish to remove our self  
destruct devices."  
"They what!? 17 felt a little insecure knowing that he no longer  
possessed the last resort self-destruct device...not that he let it show of  
course... and it had not been of much use against Cell. "Why did they go  
meddling around with our programming?"  
  
18 ignored the rhetorical question.  
  
"Well, what should we do now?" he asked. "With Goku dead we don't have a  
function anymore. And from what you say we wouldn't last long if we got into  
a scrap with the Z senshi."  
  
"I think we should try to get lost."  
  
He just looked at her. (It was the android equivalent of 'Huh'.)  
  
"We don't want to meddle with the Z senshi if we can avoid it, and with  
Goku gone we don't have a reason to...so maybe we should find a quiet place  
and get lost so they don't come looking for us."  
  
"Good idea. I still don't get why they tried to make us human though. The  
three androids turned and vanished into the desert. 18 had to fight to keep a  
smile from turning her lips up at the memory of Krillin stammering to his  
friends about what a good couple she and 17 would be, and how he wanted her  
to be happy. He really was kind of sweet. She could fight the smile all she  
wanted, but she could do nothing about the blush that crept onto her cheeks.  
Fortunately 17 had his back to her.  


A/N: Sorry psymaster13, can't do it. If you knew who she was I wouldn't have much of a story left to tell. ^.~


	3. The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 2: The Calm Before the Storm.

18 stood up slowly. She never would have admitted it to her brother, but she  
was tired. She looked at the clock, it read one am.  
  
No wonder she was tired. She had been working since 8 in the morning. Well,  
she was almost done. She carried the tray of freshly shined silverware back  
to the kitchen.  
  
She had been working this job for three months and secretly she was proud to  
have managed holding it down. 17 hadn't been so lucky. He had taken about ten  
jobs in the four months since the Cell games and hadn't managed to keep to  
keep any of them for more than a week. He just caused to much trouble.  
  
She and 16 were pretty much the providers. Between them they pulled together  
enough money to rent a small apartment and provide the small amount of food  
she and 17 required to function.  
  
While she did not particularly enjoy waiting tables, she didn't mind it  
either. She took some napkins from a box and started wrapping the silverware.  
Rolling the silverware was the last thing she had to do before heading home.  
  
Once the silverware was rolled and stacked neatly she tossed her apron into a  
laundry bin and clocked out.  
  
As she was headed for the door, Evan, the restaurant manager called out a  
goodnight.  
  
Humans, she thought, they waste so much time on conversation.  
  
She had learned quickly that most of a waitresses money comes from tips. When  
she was working with a customer she would smile and make small talk like the  
other waitresses, her tips were sufficient for her needs, but they were never  
large. As hard as she tried she couldn't make herself seem more interested in  
these strangers lives, and her smile never touched her cold blue eyes. Far  
too often she forgot to respond to her "name."  
  
They had decided before arriving in this small town that they would not  
reveal their true nature. They had agreed to choose human names for  
themselves so the humans would not ask too many questions. The only one of  
them who was any good at remembering to respond to his name was 16. He had  
chosen to go with the name Ceti. 17 and 18 didn't know where he had gotten  
the name but he seemed to like it and no one had asked any questions about it  
in the town. She had chosen to go with Ami and 17 had decided to go with  
Steve. Neither name seemed to truly suit them, and both had trouble  
remembering that they were supposed to respond to them.  
  
16 and 17 were waiting for her in the parking lot. Together the three headed  
for their small apartment. As they walked along a mewling sounded from  
someplace on 16's shoulder. 18 turned her head to see Brief, 16's small black  
kitten. They were about to put it down at the shelter where he worked so he  
brought it home. Fortunately he had only brought home one animal so far. When  
she had asked him why he named her Brief he said she reminded him of Dr.  
Brief's cat, Kitty.  
  
17 stopped walking to look around then continued. He reached up and brushed  
his finger over the gold hoop earring Dr. Gero had installed. Binary code  
flashed from his computer brain to hers. It was almost like telepathy.  
  
#Someone is following us.#  
  
#Where?#  
  
#He's sitting on the roof of that first building to the left.#  
  
16 carefully deposited Briefs on the ground. Since he had adopted her she had  
always managed to find her way home so he knew she would be safe.  
  
#I am faster so I will go around the back. 17 come in from this side. 18  
cover the sky.#  
  
He was rewarded with a double #Confirmed# ringing in his head, then he and  
the twins were moving out. 18 leapt into the air and hovered over the  
building. She caught sight of a human figure looking around in confusion at  
the sudden disappearance of the three androids before 16 and 17 converged on  
him. He made a vain attempt to escape. He was obviously a fighter, but no  
human could have held off even one of them, and he was quickly subdued.  
  
She dropped to the roof to find her brother pinning a small human down. He  
was completely bald and only about four feet tall. She recognized him  
immediately.  
  
"Krillin."  
  
"Oh...uh...hi,18." He was turning a ludicrous shade of red.  
  
#It's OK 17, he isn't powerful enough to do us any damage.#  
  
#You sure?#  
  
#Positive.#  
  
17 let Krillin get up and leaned against a wall to watch, his sister seemed  
to know this scrawny human.  
  
"Krillin, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Well, um...I uh...wanted to see how you were doing. I knew you probably  
wouldn't appreciate me coming to your apartment or anything, so I thought I  
would just make sure you guys were OK...and uh..." Krillins voice trailed off.  
  
#Why does he care?# 17 wondered.  
  
18 ignored him.  
  
"How did you find us?"  
  
"Well..um...Piccolo has been staying at the Lookout so I asked him to  
keep an eye open for you."  
  
"The Lookout?"  
  
"Yeah, that place where we were when we summoned the Dragon. You can see  
any place on earth from there."  
  
"Anyplace?" 17 asked, he hadn't been very interested in the rest of the  
conversation, but the idea of being able to see anything on earth fascinated  
him.  
  
"Well, you can't really see through walls or anything like that. But you  
can see anything that happens out in the open."  
  
#Drat.#  
  
#What 17 did you want to use it to peek in windows or something.#  
  
He didn't answer her, he did not want to admit that human women were an  
enigma to him.  
  
But she assumed it anyway. #Why you...#  
  
"You know," 17 said, trying to change the subject of the binary  
conversation, "I never did understand why the Z senshi tried to turn us into  
humans."  
  
"Oh...uh...um" The short human looked flustered and he was turning an  
absurd red color. "I...um...thought it would be easier for you guys to, you  
know, get jobs live your lives, so on, if you were human. I thought maybe you  
could live normal happy lives."  
  
17 looked at the blushing human skeptically and turned to his sister with a  
raised eyebrow. She was turning red too! What in the world was going on here?  
He looked at the two blushing people then turned his back and headed for the  
apartment. It was better not to ask.  
  
16 followed, leaving Krillin and 18 alone on the roof.  
  
"Good night Krillin." She said as she turned to leave, unconsciously  
doing the same thing she had mentally scorned Evan for doing.  


"Um...18."

  
"Yes."  
  
"Are you angry with me?" She turned to look at him.  
  
"What for?"  
  
"Well...uh, for following you."  
  
"No. Goodnight."  
  
She heard Krillin breath a sigh of relief. She dropped to the street and  
walked to the apartment. She would never have admitted it, even to herself,  
but she was glad to see the little man. It was kind of sweet to have someone  
care enough to check up on her. She couldn't remember anyone except maybe 17  
caring about her. Maybe Krillin was sincere.  
  
*********************  
  
They saw quite a bit of Krillin over the next few months. He ate at least one  
meal a day at the restaurant, (He said he liked their hamburgers, 18 had  
tasted those burgers and personally wouldn't have fed them to Briefs, so she  
wondered if it was really an excuse to hang around.)  
  
18 did not do anything different from what she normally did, but whenever  
Krillin was around her tips were bigger. At first she thought maybe Krillin  
was adding to her tips after the customers left, but she watched him while he  
ate and he never left his seat. What she did not realize was that when  
Krillin was there her smile sometimes reached her eyes and people were able  
to warm up to her a little.  
  
Evan and the rest of the staff could not figure out what had happened to her.  
Somehow, in some indescribable way, she had changed.  
  
Krillin also spent a lot of time volunteering at the shelter where 16 worked.  
He seemed to like working with the animals as much as 16 did and 16 did not  
complain about his company.  
  
17 just tolerated him.  
  
He had been tentative about hanging around for the first couple of weeks, but  
when it became clear no one would chase him off he seemed a little more at  
ease.  
  
The days passed in a slow dreamy pattern and sometimes it felt as though time  
had stopped and nothing could ever threaten earth again.  
  
*********************  
  
Steam filled the small room, fogging up the single mirror.  
  
18 slipped wearily out of her clothes. It had been a long day and even  
Krillin's company could not keep her back and feet from aching.  
  
She slipped into the water, enjoying the comfort which was seeping into her  
body. She closed her icy eyes and laid her head back.  
  
When she opened them she was immersed head to toe in the warm liquid. The  
round tank, with three inch thick glass distorted her vision. So did the  
constant stream of air bubbles which rose up through the amber liquid,  
brushing lightly against her body.  
  
She could barely make out the shape of the other tank she knew was in the  
room. She could not see him, but she knew her brother was floating inside it.  
  
The liquid kept them immobile in a constant state of suspended animation.  
Cords, wires, and tubes ran through the lid of the tanks and into their  
bodies. She had a vague sensation of pain all over her body.  
  
A short balding man with cold ice-blue eyes appeared in her field of vision.  
He carried a clipboard on which he was making notes.  
  
His voice was distorted by the glass and the liquid surrounding her but she  
could still hear him speaking.  
  
"The installation of the computer brains seems to have been successful."  
  
"Yes Doctor." That was the computer.  
  
18 narrowed her eyes, even that small amount of movement was exhaustingly  
difficult. How she hated him.  
  
"Initiate the next step computer."  
  
_What now?_ 18 wondered.  
  
"Sequence A236790OTA initiated. Fusion of organic titanium alloy in ten  
seconds."  
  
18 dully wondered how much this would hurt.  
  
"Five...four...three...two...one...sequence initiated now."  
  
The tubes connecting her to the heavy machinery outside the tank began to  
jerk as liquid poured down them. She jerked as the liquid was suddenly pumped  
into her body. The pain was intense as her body began to convulse in spite of  
the restraining liquid, it felt as though liquid fire was being pumped into  
her and her whole body was burning to a crisp. No one could survive this! Her  
face twisted as she tried to scream.  
  
18 jerked suddenly to a sitting position, cold water pouring off her body.  
She had been asleep. She shuddered as she pulled the stopper from the plug  
and allowed the water to drain from the bathtub.  
  
What was that? It was terrifying!  
  
She had never dreamed before. Not since she was released from Dr. Gero's lab  
anyway. Now, suddenly, she was awakened by a nightmare.  
  
Her body ached all over as though she had been beaten all over.  
  
She closed the curtain and turned the shower head on. The warm water washed  
over her body, warming her and lessening the effect of the nightmare.  
  
She had no way of knowing that her nightmare was just a drop in the bucket  
and that a dark storm was brewing on the horizon.  
  



	4. Descending Darkness

18 slowly dried off and dressed in the long T-shirt she wore to bed. While  
she only required a few hours of sleep a week, and she could sleep standing;  
she enjoyed the warm comfort of sleeping in a bed. Besides there was nothing  
to do in this little town after midnight and sleeping was a good way to pass  
the time. Just because she didn't require it didn't mean a little extra sleep  
would hurt her.  
  
She opened the door and headed for her room. The apartment only had one  
bedroom and 17 had insisted she take it. He slept on the couch in the living  
room\kitchenette. If 16 slept at all they never knew it.  
  
17 was already asleep, 16 was seated on the sill of their small window. He  
looked like a silent sentry silhouetted against the night.  
  
18 stood in the doorway of her room and watched 17 sleep, wondering if he  
ever dreamed. She had never considered it before, and so she had never asked  
him, but her recent nightmare made her wonder.  
  
She silently closed the door to her room. As she turned her back to the  
balcony she missed the glint of metal flashing from the roof of a nearby  
building.  
  
She whirled at the sound of a small object passing through glass and almost  
simultaneously she felt a stinging in her arm.  
  
She looked down and saw a dart the size of her smallest fingernail embedded  
in her arm. She tried to shout, knowing the dart had not made enough noise to  
alert the other two to her trouble when it passed through the glass; but it  
was too late. The fast acting poison had already taken effect and she  
collapsed to the floor. The last thing she saw before darkness claimed her  
was the tiny hole in the glass and the tiny glass shards in the carpet.  
  
**********************************  
  
  
For some reason Krillin could not sleep. He had tossed and turned for hours;  
finally, resigned to the fact that he could not sleep he slipped out the  
window of Roshi's house for a little air.  
  
He was not really surprised to find himself flying towards the town where the  
androids were. He was flying over their apartment when he noticed something  
was wrong.  
  
A robot was clambering out of 18's balcony. It looked like a box with a dozen  
metallic spidery legs. Held limply in one of its metal arms was 18.  
  
He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and started to punch in the Son's  
number; he stopped remembering suddenly that they were out of range of his  
cell phone. He racked his brain for someone he could call; he realized that  
when the androids had tried to isolate themselves from the Z senshi they had  
done an excellent job, no one was within range of his cell phone.  
  
There was one person who might be able to help, but Krillin was not certain  
he had not already tried to take the machine on and failed; besides he would  
probably kill him for knowing his phone number.  
  
What have I got to lose? Krillin punched the number into his phone.  
  
He could hear it ringing on the other end of the line.  
  
Come on, come on, please pick up.  
  
A very sleepy voice sounded over the receiver, "I don't know who you are or  
how you got this number but if you don't hang up now I will hunt you down and  
hang you by your heels over a pit full of flesh eating beetles and lower you  
into it one inch at a time!"  
  
"Uh...remind me not to ever wake you up in person."  
  
"Oh it's you." His voice was dripping with venom. "What do you want at  
this hour? This had better be good."  
  
"Well, I don't know how you slept through it but some sort of robot just  
climbed out of your apartment carrying your sister."  
  
"What!? Why didn't you stop it?"  
  
"As near as I could tell she was out cold, if it could take her out I  
don't stand a chance against it alone. You were the only person within range  
of my cell phone, though quite frankly I figured you must have already been  
beaten for it to have her.  
  
"Hhn. Weakling." He hung up. Ten seconds later 17 came flying out the  
balcony window followed closely by 16.  
  
Krillin pointed down the street to where the robot was vanishing around a  
corner, then fell in behind them.  
  
17 flew around the corner and slammed into the robot throwing it fifteen feet  
and causing it to release 18. Her unconscious form flew through the air and  
landed with a thud on the roof of a nearby car shattering the glass in the  
windows and windshield.  
  
17 attacked again as the droid tried to get to 18 again.  
  
#16 we have to keep it away from 18. She's helpless right now.#  
  
16 and 17 threw themselves at the robot in a concerted effort to drive it  
away from 18.  
  
Krillin hovered in the air watching the fight. The two androids were easily  
driving the robot away from the area where 18 was lying. They had almost  
driven it to the plains on the outskirts of the town.  
  
High in the air, unnoticed by anyone floated a microscopic video camera,  
it's lens panning back and forth over the scene. It was continuously  
transmitting the data it had collected to a satellite orbiting the earth. The  
satellite then relayed the images to a computer deep in the snow and ice of  
Antarctica. The computer displayed the images on a large screen mounted on  
the wall. The entire transmission process took three seconds, the man  
watching the video on the monitor saw everything happen three seconds after  
the actual event. The robot was preprogrammed to a specific plan, but if he  
needed to make any last minute adjustments all he had to do was click the  
command button on the pen sized microphone he was fingering and his new  
orders would be immediately followed.  
  
He noticed the short bald man in the images. Hmm... Krillin...I had not  
anticipated his involvement, but he should not be able to interfere with my  
plans.  
  
16 and 17 had the robot well out into the plains by now. Krillin started to  
head after them but decided it might be better to get 18 out of sight before  
the locals came out and started asking questions. It was not every day that a  
woman gets thrown into a car hard enough to smash it and then walks away. He  
had better not let anyone see her there.  
  
He turned just in time to see a second robot appear from the shadows to pick  
up 18. It grabbed her in it's spindly arms, but rather than carry her the way  
the other one had; a door on it's box-like body opened and it stuffed her  
limp form into it.  
  
Krillin headed towards it with a shout, as it resealed the door with 18 now  
inside it. He had seen how easily 16 and 17 were handling the first robot and  
thought that perhaps he would be able to handle them after all (or else  
seeing 18 in danger had made him braver than normal). The robot saw him  
coming and beat a hasty retreat in a different direction from 17 and 16.  
Krillin caught up with the robot which was now out on the plains and fired an  
energy blast at its legs, trying to immobilize it.  
  
The robot leapt skyward, the energy blast passing harmlessly beneath it. At  
the same time something slammed into Krillin from behind, knocking him into  
the earth and pinning him down.  
  
He twisted to see a third robot holding him firmly with two of its arms,  
raising another high over him. Time seemed to move agonizingly slow as the  
raised arm straightened into a spear like point and suddenly shot through the  
air in an attempt to pinion Krillin to the ground.  
  
Krillin powered up but knew he did not have enough power to deflect the blow.  
He managed to raise his power high enough to bounce the arm off so that it  
only scratched his chest.  
  
The robot raised its arm again. He knew he did not have enough power to  
deflect the second blow. He watched it descend with deadly accuracy, there  
was a sickening thud as it crashed through his chest, breaking several ribs.  
He felt no pain for some reason, and watched in shock as the arm continued to  
descend. He realized that the arm must have gone straight through him and  
into the ground beneath.  
  
What a pity I couldn't save her...the thought trailed off as he felt himself  
being lifted into the air, and then all was dark.  
  



	5. Defeat

  
Chapter Four; Defeat.  
  
At Krillin's shout 17 had turned to see a second robot stuffing his sister into its box-like body. He realized that the robot they were now fighting had been a diversion; unfortunately the realization came too late.   
As if Krillin's shout had been a signal, long spindly metal legs punched upward out of the ground. Pulling themselves out of the ground were ten more robots. All eleven of their boxlike bodies opened at once, as if acting on some unheard command, to spill out hundreds of fist sized globes. As soon as each globe touched the ground it seemed to sprout a dozen long legs. They seemed to be a type of fighter droid, standing three feet tall and just as  
wide.   
The droids descended en mass on the two androids. 16 and 17 attempted to get airborne, but the small robots clinging to them pulled them earthward. They seemed to be attempting to bury 16 and 17, climbing over them like an endless wave of mechanical spiders.  
17 powered his shields to their maximum capacity, generating an electric field that would repel the small droids. As the robots were sent flying in all directions 17 leapt into the air.  
He caught sight of Krillin battling two other robots. He saw one of the robots jump Krillin from behind and pin him to the ground.  
He looked back at the little robots and noticed that they seemed to have suddenly developed a dozen laser ports each and were training them on him. Two seconds later a thousand tiny laser bolts, fired simultaneously, rolled over him like a tidal wave and knocked him earthward again.  
That brief airborne moment had been just long enough. He had been able to free his Specialty Magnum from the holster strapped to his thigh. Dr. Gero had specially outfitted this weapon with a computer command chip that would accept binary commands from 17. (It also recognized his palm print: if anyone else touched it the weapon would backfire in their face, or attempt to electrocute them, depending on their power levels.) 17 adjusted the settings and an energy beam burst from the muzzle incinerating small robots by the dozen.  
Despite the speed with which he was vaporizing them, within a few minutes he was yet again overwhelmed.  
He boosted his shield a second time and leapt into the air gaining a temporary reprieve. He was shocked at what he saw from this vantage point; Krillin was impaled on the mechanical arm of one of his opponents. The robot had driven it's arm straight through Krillin and it was now protruding two feet out of his back as the robot tried to shake his limp body off of it's  
arm.   
17 was knocked back into the fray. 16 had managed to free his lasers and was incinerating the robots on the ground, ignoring the ones which clung tenaciously to his body. A laser beam had sliced through his armor leaving a deep gash through his chest and another laser score streaked up his cheekbone and disappeared behind his ear.  
17 continued to blast the small robots but knew he could not keep this up for long. The energy for the Magnum's blasts was pulled directly from his personal energy store and the high intensity beams were taxing his reserves.  
He reluctantly adjusted the beam so that the energy would be dispersed over a wider area, all the while cursing his rashness at launching an attack he knew he did not have the energy to support. The beam no longer had the strength to incinerate his opponents; instead it knocked off their thin, weak legs and fried their laser devices so they could no longer launch an attack.  
By the time the last of the small droids dropped to the ground 17's energy reserve was almost empty. The Magnum and his shield boosts had severely weakened his defenses. He could see that 16 was in similar condition.  
He could almost hear 18 chiding them for not monitoring their reserves more carefully. Thinking of his sister boosted his morale, shaking off his weariness he turned to face the other eleven robots which had stayed uninvolved during their fight with the small droids. They seemed to be built for transport rather that for fighting.  
Krillin and the other two robots had vanished. After what 17 had seen he seriously doubted he would see Krillin alive again. Their only hope of finding 18 lay in these droids.  
Suddenly all eleven took off at a run. 16 and 17 exchanged looks before giving chase. This definitely smelled like a trap, but what choice did they have if the wanted to rescue 18?  
The droids ran for miles, barely staying ahead of 16 and 17, then suddenly as if they had reached a prearranged destination they stopped.  
As far as 17 could tell there was nothing of importance out here. They were in the middle of nowhere.  
16 and 17 kept their distance waiting to see what would happen next. One of the robots attacked 16, wrapping itself around him so that he could not move. Another leapt at 17 and did the same thing. A third robot came up and pried his magnum from his hand and crushed it. Emotions surged through 17 as he looked at his crumpled weapon. He could feel the damage which had been done to the gun. The binary emissions from the computer chip sounded like the  
cries of a wounded animal. It was like watching a part of himself die, and he was helpless to do anything. Still his face remained impassive.  
He struggled vainly to break the robot's grasp as bath the robots leapt over a hundred feet in the air. When they reached the pentacle of their leap the robots self-destructed.  
17's shields barely protected him from the blast and he was helpless to prevent the force of the explosions from battering him into the ground. He heard the thud of 16 hitting the ground.  
17 wondered wildly what was going on, then realized the robots had lured them to this deserted spot to destroy them.  
He tried to get to his feet to fight; he knew his shield could not stand many more blasts like that one. Before he regained his feet however another robot stalked over to him and pulled him up by his hair, slamming him roughly against it's own body and leaping into the air. He could see another one carrying 16 at the edge of his vision.  
  
BANG!BANG!  
CRASH!  
  
He did not even try to get up, but it did not deter the robots.  
  
BANG!BANG!  
CRASH!  
  
He could hardly open his eyes, the pain was unbearable; he could feel part of  
his mind shutting off, disconnecting him from the pain.  
  
BANG!BANG!  
CRASH!  
  
_Shouldn't I be dead now?  
_  
BANG!BANG!  
CRASH!  
  
There was no denying it. One more blow and he would be finished. The last explosion had wiped his shields. He barely had enough energy to remain functional.  
The remaining robot did not seem to know which one of them it should destroy. It wavered back and forth between the two of them, then seemed to make up its mind. He heard it's metal legs clacking against the ground as it scuttled towards him. Its metal legs were just within his field of vision. Without warning it collapsed next to him.  
_How strange...that robot had feet...small bare feet...not like the others at all..._

With that thought the world faded into silent darkness.  
  



	6. Someone Else's Dream

Androids 05  
  
17 stood in the grassy clearing and watched the children play. They chased each other around in circles, apparently ignoring him.  
  
"Hey, where is this place. Answer me. Where are we? Who are you?"  
  
Still the children pranced about the meadow. He reached angrily to stop a young blonde girl but she passed right through him.  
  
What is this? Am I dreaming? It seems so real.  
  
He took a closer look at the children. There were three of them, two girls and a boy. The youngest girl had long wild hair the color of ripe plums. The other two children appeared to be about the same age. The girl had long blonde hair and the boy had short dark hair. He could not place a finger on it but they seemed familiar, like he had seen them before somewhere.  
  
For lack of anything better to do he followed them into the woods.  
  
"Savahn, Savahn slow down. You know I can't run that fast."  
  
"What's the matter Nix, can't you keep up?" teased Savahn.  
  
"It's not fair, you have longer legs." Nix apparently tired of the game flopped down on the blanket next to Adrian, who was setting out their picnic basket. "Adrian, tell him it isn't fair."  
  
"Oh quit pouting. You were having just as much fun as he was."  
  
"Humph." The child crossed her arms and pretended to pout.  
  
"Quit pouting and have something to eat." Adrian handed Nix a sandwich and some chips. At the mention of food Savahn came over and sat down cross legged next to Nix.  
  
"Don't be cross, Kid. You should lighten up a little."  
  
In no time the three children had devoured all the food in the basket.  
  
"Hm, that was good. Too bad we can't do this more often," Adrian smiled at her brother and friend.  
  
"Yeah," pouted Nix.  
  
Adrian just smiled and leaned back, her head resting on her arms. The warm sun soaked through her, making her sleepy. She could hear Nix and Savahn playing again, but they sounded far away and distant.  
  
Savahn had climbed up into a tree and Nix was trying to coax him down. He grinned and settled in, knowing she could not climb up after him. He took a handmade reed flute out of his pocket and began to play.  
  
On the ground Nix laughed in delight as she began to dance to the hauntingly sweet melody that he produced. Her small bare feet seemed to glide over the grass and her hair and skirt twirled about her. Her sweet voice joined the flute as she sang the words in perfect time with her feet.  
  
If only this could last forever. If only he, his sister and his best friend could stay out here, but he knew they would come and take them away again. If only.  
  
The haunting melody continued to float about the woods as they were gradually lost to the mists of wakefulness.  
  
17 awakened lethargically for the first time that he could remember. A strange but familiar melody still playing in his head.  
  
In his half conscious thoughts he knew there was something urgent he needed to tend to, but he could not remember, could not make himself wake fully.  
  
He opened his eyes and lazily gazed about him, he realized with half registered surprise that he was not on the couch in his living room. He sat up suddenly, trying to recall how he got here.  
  
The small blue room was sparsely decorated. The only furniture was the bed he occupied and a small bedside table.  
  
Folded on the table was a pair of black jeans and a powder blue shirt. Standing neatly next to the table was a pair of sleek black boots that were obviously designed for combat purposes, though they hardly looked military.  
  
Military.robots.18!  
  
17 leapt from the bed and threw on the clothes. He had to find her. He dashed out the unlocked door, and into one of the most complex laboratories he had ever seen. Even Doctor Gero's lab would not have compared.  
  
Sophisticated machinery lined every inch of the walls. Various types of equipment hung suspended from the ceiling, ready for use. One corner of the lab was taken up by a huge computer storage bank.  
  
Stretched out on a table in the center of the room, was Android 16. Fifteen to twenty small robots buzzed about the table, some flying on suspension rockets, others suspended from the ceiling by cords or robotic arms.  
  
17 dashed over to his compatriot. 16's main system was offline, but his backup system seemed to be operating perfectly. He was still functioning.  
  
The little 'bots floated about and 17 realized they were repairing 16's systems and damage.  
  
He tried to get their attention but they just worked around them. He tried to interfere with their work but they just bypassed him or moved to something else.  
  
"Where am I?" he demanded, hoping perhaps they would respond to vocal commands.  
  
"They ain't really smart enough to answer you. They're programmed to do their job, but not much else. You won't get no answer out of them."  
  
17 whirled around to find himself staring at a fat sloppy security guard. He was in his late thirties or early forties and looked as if he might have been fit once. A prize fighter or lifter who did not quite realize he was a has-been. His graying brown hair looked like it had not been combed in weeks and his clothes looked slept in.  
  
"Then I will have to get one from you."  
  
"What makes you think you can?" bellowed the man; his nametag read 'Simpson'. Simpson crossed his arms; apparently he felt the slender Android 17 was no threat to him.  
  
17 hated overconfident old men. He hoped he would get an excuse to smash this guy up. He knew he could easily take this guy out and decided not to waste his time but get straight to the point.  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"Doctor Morisson's lab."  
  
"Tell me how to get out of here."  
  
Underneath his façade 17 was shocked. Doc Morisson was one of the Red Ribbon Army's top scientists. He and Doctor Gero had been contemporaries, sometimes working together sometimes in competition. 17 vaguely remembered that Morisson had helped Gero in making the androids in their early stages. He did not want anything more to do with Red Ribbon or their crazy doctor.  
  
"You don't."  
  
Simpson let out a short laugh and launched himself at 17. Apparently he felt the need to physically restrain 17. Probably more from the desire to dominate someone smaller than anything else. He was just a bully.  
  
17 allowed the attack to slip past his guard, doubling over from the 'force' of a blow that he barely felt. He was going to enjoy the shock on this jerk's face when he took him apart.  
  
He leered in 17's face, "You ain't going nowhere until Doctor Morisson says you can."  
  
"I'll go where I please, when I please. I don't ask permission from any man."  
  
"Oh, yeah, punk, well I."  
  
"Mr. Simpson. The gentleman is our guest. He is free to leave when he chooses. I certainly never told you to restrain him," interrupted a female voice.  
  
17 stared at the speaker in shock. The girl was a little older, but it was definitely the girl from his dream.  
  
"Nix?" 


	7. Dream Girl

A/N: I would like to apologize to everyone who has waited so patiently for an update of this story. I know it has been a long time and I should have updated long ago. I have a couple of excuses though. 1: I have been simultaneously running this story on a dragon ball z web site and did not want to post on ffn faster than I posted on the other site. However, Kajidragon, the pagemaster of the site has been having some personal problems and has not updated her page in several months. 2: After I sent chapter 5 to Kaji for her to post it, one of my disks messed up and erased it so she had the only copy. I asked her to send a copy back but I don't know that she ever got it, so I had to rewrite chapter 5. Sorry and thank you so much for your patience. Hopefully I will begin updating this far more frequently. (It helps that Cartoon Network is finally running new episodes^.~)  
  
Dream Girl  
  
She stood in the doorway, her curly violet hair hanging almost to her knees. She was dressed in a baggy, ankle length denim skirt and an oversized man's shirt. Over this she wore a heavy lab coat. She was barefoot and carried a thick black book in one hand. Her bulky clothes hung from her small frame making her appear small and vulnerable. *  
  
A pair of thin glasses rested on her delicate nose, partially hiding her wide violet eyes. She had soft ivory skin and full dark lips. He had seen women use cosmetics to darken their lips, but he had rarely seen a woman with lips which were naturally as dark as hers. They were almost the same shade as her hair.  
  
"You'll have to forgive Simpson. He forgets his place sometimes."  
  
She turned to the security guard, "Your job is to keep people from breaking into my lab. Not restricting my guests to it. I suggest you get back to work."  
  
Simpson gave her a dark look as he trudged from the room.  
  
"Sorry about that. I think sometimes he forgets that he works for me. He likes to take things into his own hands and he looks for trouble."  
  
"Nix?" 17 was very confused, first he has a weird dream about this girl, then she shows up.  
  
Confusion briefly crossed her face, then realization dawned and she laughed. It was a pleasant warm laugh, like tinkling glass. The way it had sounded in his dream.  
  
"Nobody has called me that since I was a kid. It was a pet name, given to me by a very special friend. How did you come to know it?"  
  
"I saw you in a dream. You were playing with some other children and that is what they called you," his answer was given coldly and clinically, if she thought it the slightest bit odd she did not say so.  
  
She extended her hand to him with a warm smile, "I'm Doctor Rana Morrison, welcome to my lab. I don't mind what you call me, so long as it isn't insulting." Her warm smile lit her violet eyes, making them glisten, "You can even call me Nix, if you like, I certainly don't mind."  
  
"Sorry about the trouble I caused, I know another Doctor Morrison and I thought this was his lab."  
  
Did I just say that? I don't have to justify myself to her.  
  
Her eyes turned mournful, "Yes, my father."  
  
She crossed the room and laid her book down on a table, he noticed her rounded nails were painted dark purple like her hair. A quick glance at her feet revealed the same was also true of her toe nails. She reached up to push a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, the light danced off on ornate silver ring on her left hand.  
  
As she crossed the room to examine 16 she took off her glasses and tucked them safely into the pocket of her lab coat, apparently they were only for reading. 17 followed her over to the table.  
  
As she began to work on some of the more complex wiring in 16's chest the hovering robots automatically stayed out of her way.  
  
"How did we get here?"  
  
She grinned, "You landed on my doorstep, literally. This whole complex is underground. You and those robots were battling right above us. I have been trying to reconstruct the events leading up to your arrival here.  
  
"I managed to deactivate one of the robots before it self-destructed. Unfortunately however it was designed to have a system crash if it was deactivated in battle. It's memory was almost completely wiped. I haven't been able to peice together enough of it to figure out where they took your sister, or why.  
  
"I did find out that they were carrying SGT Battle Droids though. If I could find them I might be able to determine where they took 18."  
  
"Wait a minute, you know that we're androids-and you know were siblings, most people don't make that connection."  
  
She waved at 16, "When I was repairing his computer I accidently opened his memory banks."  
  
"So you know everything about us?"  
  
"No, I only know what is in his memory banks. I don't know anything that happened before he was activated. However there was also some damage to his memory banks so there is a little bit missing. I was unable to retrieve the coordinates of you original battle with these robots. If you could tell me where it was I might be able to find 18."  
  
******  
  
Two hours later 17 sat in the passenger seat of a large transport truck. Rana sat in the driver's sear feeding the coordinates into the onboard guidance system.  
  
"This is going to be a long trip Nix, why don't we just fly there?"  
  
"Because I don't have a transport plane big enough to carry as many robots as you say you fought. I may have to go through a lot of robots to find the information I need if they have been severely damaged."  
  
"Why not encapsulate the truck?"  
  
She laughed, "This isn't a Capsule Corps. truck. I don't ever trust a Capsule vehicle with real important stuff. I always worry that I won't be able to get the capsule open again."  
  
"Don't they come with a gauranty though? If they don't work send them back and Capsule Copy. will extract it and replace the capsule."  
  
Rana sighed tiredly, "I'm afraid it isn't that easy. For some reason there are some types of technology that malfunction when I'm around. Capsules are one of them. I can't explain it but whenever I'm around a capsule device for very long it freezes up. That's part of the reason I set up my own lab, I don't have that kind of problem with equipment I personally build."  
  
17's brow wrinkled in confusion, "Are you saying that some technology reacts to your presence?"  
  
"That's a pretty good way of putting it."  
  
"And you don't know why?"  
  
"Not really, I have a couple of theories. I think my father might have had something to do with it."  
  
17 said nothing. After all what was there to be said, other than the obvious statement that that was odd, which would be strange to hear coming from a walking weapon.  
  
Despite 17's concerns about the slowness of the vehicle they made fairly good time. Within an hour they had reached the scene of the fight. Smoldered and burnt robots littered the fields. Military trucks and personnel were crawling all over the place, carefully gathering bits and pieces of robots into evidence bags.  
  
17 looked at Rana, wondering what she would do now. She looked thoughtfully at the scene before her.  
  
"I figured the military would be involved by now. Ever since the Cell game they have been trying to upgrade their equipment so they cam be more prepared if something happens again, which is likely. However, I don't think mere machinery will ever stand up to a creature as powerful as Cell."  
  
If that's the case she probably has a plan for getting past them. She seems to know an awful lot about Cell. I wonder what she would think if she knew beings that powerful do still live on the planet.  
  
She parked the truck just outside the boundary markers set up by the military, opened the door and jumped out. Having nothing better to do 17 got out and followed her.  
  
He caught up with her in time to hear her receiving directions to the commanding officer's tent. He walked with her to the commander's tent, their passing through the camp was marked by several cat-calls directed at Rana. The fact that the military now had soldiers of both sexes did not seem to diminish the effect Rana's slim figure had on the men; they still acted as though they had not seen a woman in years.  
  
17 suddenly felt as if someone had turned on all his defense mechanisms and he could feel his shield raising automatically. He walked close behind her, as though shielding her from their prying eyes.  
  
When they reached the command tent they were told the commander was out in the field. 17 expected her to fo search for him, but she sat down on a box of grenades to wait. She glanced around the tent, seeming to focus especially on the computer banks.  
  
"We can wait," she said softly, dismissing the commander's aide.  
  
17 leaned back against a pole and studied Rana. Quite frankly, the girl surprised him. Most humans, especially female humans, seemed to find it necessary to chatter when they were not doing something. Rana , however, seemed perfectly content to sit and just be silent. She certainly was not trying to force a conversation with him the way many women did. He was surprised to find that he enjoyed her company, maybe because she did not try to draw him out. For some reason being with her was like being with an old friend, someone so familiar words were not needed.  
  
He blinked suddenly in surprise, he had seen something strange, but it was like something he had caught out of the corner of his eye. Whatever had happened was faster than any human eye could follow, fortunately his computer brain recorded faster than the eye.  
  
He closed his eyes and replayed the scene in his memory, his brow wrinkling in confusion. For about one second Rana had turned transparent and looked like a holographic projection with too much interference between the projector and the receiver. A second replay revealed that in the same instance every computer in the room went static, then came back online.  
  
"What was that?"  
  
"What was what?" Rana looked around in confusion.  
  
"You changed, just for a second, and all the computers messed up."  
  
"Really? That's odd. I didn't notice anything."  
  
"Yes. I wouldn't have either if not for-" 17 was cut off by the arrival of the commander. He was a big muscular man, with a scar down one cheek, despite this however he was still quite handsome.  
  
Rana rose gracefully to her feet, "Good afternoon, Commander. I am Dr. Rana Morrison, a weapons specialist from Star labs. The company I work for has a data retrieval agreement with the military. The military allows us to extract data from enemy technology, and in exchange we share any information we gather that is of military importance, as well as developing new weapons exclusively for you. I was sent out to collect these damaged fighter units. If you check your computer you'll see my clearance papers."  
  
The commander walked over to his computer and entered a sequence of commands. "Alright, you're clear. If you'll follow me..."  
  
Three hours later they had a truck full of damaged robots and were back on their way to the lab.  
  
********  
  
."Piccolo, do you know where Krillian is?"  
  
"No, I haven't seen him in a few days."  
  
"Oh, I was hoping to see him before I have to go home." Miria Trunk's face fell as he spoke. When he had returned to his own time no one had really expected to see him again, but true to his word he had returned for a visit and to assure his past family that everything had been set right in his own time.  
  
"I'm certain he will be fine. I think he went to find the androids."  
  
"And you let him go alone? For all we know they could have killed him."  
  
"They have been hiding out in a little town in the 47th sector. He drops in on them pretty regularly. So far they don't seem to mind."  
  
"Well why don't you check on them and see if he's there?"  
  
"Alright." Piccolo walked over to the edge of the look out and searched for the town. "Hm. Looks like there was some trouble over there. Most of the mess has been cleaned up, but Krillian might have been caught in the cross fire."  
  
"Com'on Piccolo, we need to check this out. I trusting those androids was a mistake..."  
  
Trunks leaped over the edge and took off for the 47th sector. Piccolo shook his head at the Saiyain's hotheadedness before taking off after the lavender-haired youth 


	8. Uneasy Allies

Andriods07

Uneasy Allies

18 once again found herself floating in a giant glass tube; she struggled in vain to move against the amber liquid surrounding her. Mentally she began to swear violently-this was not where she wanted to be.  
  
Her field of vision was distorted by the shape of the glass, but she could make out Krillin's broken body laying on a nearby table. Tubes hooked to machines ran in and out of a gaping hole in his chest.  
  
How did that happen? She wondered. What have they done to him?  
  
A jet of bubbles floated upwards, obscuring her vision. Through the cloud of air she thought she saw a little girl standing in front of the tank and staring up at her.  
  
What the-run get out, it's dangerous!  
  
The bubbles cleared and there was no child. The mirage slipped to the back of her mind as a figure stepped out of the shadows and walked to the table where Krillin lay. She felt she ought to recognize him, but could not.  
  
The man took a syringe and prepared to dig the needle into Krillin's skin. Furiously 18 tried to yell, but the liquid flowed into her mouth. She raised her fist in a vicious punch that would have shattered stone, but the liquid resisted and she barely managed to tap the glass.  
  
She screamed internally with frustration.  
  
Rana glared blearily at the clock, it was well after midnight. She turned back to reading the memory files of the broken machines.  
  
She had sent Simpson and 17 down to the warehouse to search for some silicon petrol oil. She had claimed to need it for the memory reader, but it was more a ruse to get them out of her hair. 17 had been looking over her shoulder and been all around obnoxious about how slow the process was, and she simply did not trust Simpson as far as she could throw him, so she had sent the two to keep each other out of trouble. She knew for a fact that it would probably take the better part of an hour to find the SPO. She had stacked the only crate of it under twenty boxes of thallium gears.  
  
As she continued the tedious task of processing the data her mind began to wander. The schematics of 17 and 16 flashed in her mind. There were several flaws in their systems that she would have liked to work out. Of course, she knew she would have to be certain the androids would not put her improvements to a bad use. 16 did not worry her, but 17 was another matter altogether. She was not entirely certain he would not try to cause trouble if he thought he could get away with it.  
  
Too bad I can't hook him up to these things and let him read them himself, she thought sarcastically, holding on of the battered droids in front of her face. She mentally reexamined his schematics on a whim, and a wily grin lit her face, Maybe I can.  
  
She reached over and thumbed her intercom system on; "17, forget about finding that stuff, I need you back up here, I have an idea. Simpson, if you will please keep looking for that oil..."  
  
17 worked rapidly; moving through the broken robots and selecting one to hook up to. Rana moved more slowly, carefully inspecting each machine to decide if it was useful, then handing her selections to her droids, who either took them off to be discarded or brought them to Simpson who plugged them into the reader.  
  
It annoyed 17 that she still insisted on working when he could do it much faster.  
  
He pulled the cord attached to his arm out of the machine he had been reading and tossed it into the growing pile of robots he had already been through. Rana's droids rushed busily about, attempting to gather them up. Rana had discarded almost as many as useless after a physical inspection.  
  
17 plugged into the next machine that looked likely to him and widened his eyes in surprise as the data was dumped into a temporary file in his memory.  
  
"I found something."  
  
Rana glanced up at him calmly.  
  
"Whoever was responsible for that attack had an agent watching over us."  
  
"I suppose that would make sense," remarked Rana.  
  
"There's an address! We should go now and check it out."  
  
"Don't you think it would be wiser to wait and see if we find any more information first?" asked Rana, indicating with her hand the broken robots.  
  
"No, every minute we waste is another that this guy has to get away! We go now!"  
  
"Who died and made you boss?" sneered Simpson. He was getting a little fed up with this teenage boy ordering him around.  
  
"Perhaps we can do both," Rana gently placed herself between the two as she spoke. "Simpson would you please keep running the reader on these battle droids, 17 and I will go check on this address.""Fine, whatever you say, boss," Simpson snorted, twisting the last word as it came out.  
  
"Is everything in order?"  
  
"Yes, Doctor, I did everything just like you said."  
  
"Excellent, they should soon know exactly what I want them to know. They are playing into my hands perfectly."  
  
The phone was dropped abruptly into the cradle. The doctor swiveled in his chair to face his assistant, "Everything is going exactly as I planned."  
  
"Have you informed your agent he is dealing with an android?"  
  
"I see no point in it. It would only interfere with his work if he knew."  
  
"You realize he will probably die?"  
  
"Sometimes sacrifices must be made in the name of science. How is the joint cloning operation going?"  
  
"Slower than we had hoped."  
  
"Then quit babbling and get back to work on it."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
The door opened and closed and the doctor was left to his own dark thoughts. 17 cursed under his breath as he tried to pick the lock on the apartment door again. He did not want to make a mess of the door if he did not have to, he would like to be able to surprise the occupants of the room.  
  
"What's the matter, android? Having a little trouble breaking in?"  
  
17 whirled and found himself staring into the hard indigo eyes of the half- saiyan from the future.  
  
"I figured if I stayed around long enough, one of you might show back up."  
  
"18 was kidnapped, and 16 was badly damaged. Whoever rented this room knows something about it."  
  
"I suppose you're going to tell me Krillin was also kidnapped," Trunks crossed his arms over his chest, as though daring the android to lie to him.  
  
"I don't know," shrugged 17. "He was involved in the battle, and the last time I saw him he had been injured badly. I do not know if they took him or he is dead."  
  
"Right, and you had nothing to do with it. Tell me another."  
  
17 crouched in a defensive stance as the half-saiyan took the offensive.  
  
"Trunks, he might be telling the truth," Piccolo interrupted before the first blows could be exchanged.  
  
"What, you're just going to believe him? Just like that?"  
  
"No," remarked Piccolo, stepping forward to reveal Rana who stood just behind him. "But I believe her."  
  
"Who is she?" asked Trunks.  
  
"I told you to stay in the car," 17 said in his usual monotone. "These people are dangerous."  
  
Rana smiled innocently at him, "So are you."  
  
"I still need your help and I don't have time to waste trying to protect you."  
  
Rana ignored him and turned to Trunks and offered him her hand, "I'm Dr. Rana Morrison."  
  
Trunks shook her hand, still keeping a suspicious eye on 17.  
  
"Trunks Briefs," he turned to the android. "What makes you think someone here knows where 18 is, if she really was kidnapped."  
  
"What makes you think I'd tell you?"  
  
"Because my friend is missing so I'm involved too!"  
  
Rana cast a patronizing look at Piccolo and bent down to examine the doorknob, shaking her head at the arguing youths behind her.  
  
Piccolo watched Rana out of the corner of his eye as Rana bent over the doorknob. Her finger went transparent and seemed to pass through the doorknob.  
  
He wondered if she had told the android.  
  
With a triumphant smile Rana turned the doorknob and entered the room. 17 and Trunks stopped arguing and stared after her.  
  
"How'd she do that?" asked 17. "I tried for 30 minutes to get that door open."  
  
Piccolo just smiled and followed Rana into the room. _They were huddled together in the dinghy room the three of them shared.  
  
"They'll be coming for us soon," Rana worried aloud.  
  
"Hey Nix, don't worry about it. We'll make it through. We always do, don't we?"  
  
"Yeah," Rana looked searchingly into Savahn's light blue eyes. "How do you know?"  
  
"We just will, I promise. As long as we have each other we'll be ok."  
  
"Yeah, I guess so. When will Adrian be back?"  
  
"It should be anytime now, they said it was just a shot."  
  
Savahn ran his fingers through Rana's plum colored hair, "I have a question for you."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"I know we're not old enough for it now, but I want to always take care of you. When we get old enough will you marry me?" he held out his hand and showed her the ring stretched out in his palm. "It was my mother's. There's whole other world outside of this complex, and when we get out of it, all we'll have is each other. I don't want you to go away. I want it to always be the same, and I'm sure Adrian would feel the same."  
  
Without speaking Rana reached out and took the ring, placing it on her finger, the metal felt cold against her skin.  
  
"Thank you."  
  
He pulled her close to him as tears brimmed up in her eyes. He and his sister were the only family she had left. Her mother had died, and her father did not care, she was just another experiment to him.  
  
Rana leaned up and kisses him chastely on the cheek. He smiled at her warmly.  
  
"I'll always take care of you. I promise."_  
  
"Hey, wake up!" 17 was beating on Rana's bedroom door to wake her. Rana sat up in bed, trying to clear her bleary vision.  
  
"Wake up already," the android repeated anxiously. The door suddenly popped off its hinges and fell onto the floor.  
  
"Did you intend to knock down my door?" Rana asked wearily as she rose from her bed.  
  
"Not really, just a little too much force."  
  
"What's going on? Why'd you wake me up? Not to mention taking down my door?"  
  
"We were finally able to decrypt the information we found on that computer, and there are coordinates for several different locations we ought to check out for clues."  
  
"Really?" Rana asked.  
  
The apartment had been empty, apparently abandoned in some haste as the spy had left behind a laptop filled with encrypted data. Rana had brought it back to the lab, and showed 17 how to work the decryption software so that she could get some sleep while he figured out if there was anything helpful in the files. At least theoretically, she had hoped it would take him a little longer to decrypt the files, she would get a chance to sleep, 17 had kept her moving trying to find 18 and she'd had little rest.  
  
"Let's go."  
  
"Now?"  
  
"Yes now," 17 replied in exasperation. "These might lead us to 18. Come on."  
  
17 grabbed her hand and pulled her from the room, she managed to snag her cell phone off of her bedside dresser as they left.  
  
"I'll fly us there, I already told Simpson to get a truck and meet us there, in case we need it."  
  
He scooped her into his arms and lifted into the air as soon as they left the complex.  
  
"What are the coordinates, I told Piccolo I would let him know as soon as I found anything."  
  
After 17 relayed the coordinates to her, Rana dialed Piccolo's house and left a voice mail. Piccolo never picked up the phone, but he kept one so she could get hold of him in emergencies. A few seconds later Trunks returned her call to let her know that he and Piccolo were on their way.  
  
Rana and 17 got there first however.  
  
"It looks deserted," 17 stated, regarding the worn out shell before them.  
  
"I think it is. Isn't that a red ribbon symbol over the door? This must be one of their abandoned facilities."  
  
17 recognized the familiar symbol, not pausing to wonder how she had known what the symbol for the red ribbon army looked like, "You're right. It doesn't look like anyone has been here in years."  
  
17 entered the deserted building, with Rana following close behind. The dust of years lay undisturbed on the floor.  
  
"This is worthless!" 17 exclaimed angrily. "It's empty."  
  
"Maybe," Rana mused. "but whoever took your sister is apparently connected to the Red Ribbon Army. We might be able to find some useful information here, even if your sister isn't here. All those locations may be empty facilities like this, but we might find some clues that would lead us to whoever took your sister."  
  
"What should we look for?"  
  
"Computers mostly, file cabinets, laboratory records."  
  
"Why lab records?"  
  
"Someone may be studying the android qualities, trying to reproduce Dr. Gero's work."  
  
"Just what we need, more androids," Trunks said from the doorway where he and Piccolo had just arrived.  
  
"Unfortunately, it may be what we're in for," Rana agreed. 17 studiously ignored his former enemies. "Although I have no problem with the androids themselves, I don't think we need anymore of them. And the process for making them is quite inhumane."  
  
17 raised an eyebrow in surprise, what could Rana possibly know about the process of making androids. Dr. Gero had been the only person who had make androids, and he was dead. Even 17 and 18 did not remember the process. Maybe there was nothing for them to remember before the process anyway.  
  
17 reached out to open a door to go deeper into the facility, but the door frame was so rotted and old that it pulled from the wall.  
  
"What do you think you're doing, android?" demanded Trunks.  
  
"I'm going to search the facility for any helpful information," he replied smoothly, striding confidently down the hall.  
  
"I'm going after him," Trunks stated, turning to Piccolo. "I don't want him out of my sight."  
  
Piccolo watched Trunks vanish into the darkness of the hall.  
  
Rana grinned wryly as she watched them, "Will you be coming with me then?"  
  
"I guess, I don't think it's safe for you to be without protection."  
  
The search proved fruitless until the groups met up at a metal trap door on the floor of the basement level. While the rest of the facility was crumbling into decay the door was solidly intact and undamaged.  
  
Trunks eyed it warily, "This looks like the only clue we have."  
  
"Then what are we waiting for?" demanded 17, grabbing the handle and yanking upwards. The door swung up easily, and 17 levitated down into the waiting darkness.  
  
"I guess he's right about that," commented Trunks as he followed the android, igniting a ball of ki to provide light. Piccolo also levered himself downward.  
  
Rana leaned over and examined what she could see of the passageway. It seemed to go straight down. The rusted metal rungs of a ladder descended into the darkness. With a sigh she began to descend into the darkness, shivering as the cold metal came into contact with her bare feet. She had almost reached the light of Trunks ki when one of the rungs gave out beneath her foot and she plummeted the rest of the way to the floor.  
  
The others looked up startled as the woman hit the floor with a small cry. Piccolo quickly crossed the room to her, realizing that the three of them had forgotten her human limitations.  
  
"Are you alright," he asked, kneeling to examine her.  
  
"I'm fine Piccolo," she replied, embarrassed. She tried to push away and stand, but he held her still.  
  
"It looks like you cut your foot when you fell," he said, examining the nasty gash across the sole of her foot.  
  
"Why aren't you wearing any shoes?" he demanded. He took a moment to study her, taking in for the first time the long white robe she was clad in. "Are you wearing sleeping clothes?"  
  
Rana blushed uneasily, "We were in such a hurry to leave, I didn't have time to..."  
  
"You mean he was in such a hurry to leave," Trunks glared at 17.  
  
Piccolo raised his hands, causing a bandage to form over the cut; "That's the best I can do for the moment, when we finish here you need to go home and clean it out properly."  
  
His words were accompanied by a meaningful glare at 17. The android shrugged and acted indifferent.  
  
Piccolo once again raised his hands and light glowed out of them, transforming Rana's nightgown into a new outfit. He made her a skintight suit of black body armor that would be flexible enough for easy movement, but still offer her protection. Over the body armor was a plum midriff shirt and a matching skort that ended a fingerwidth above her knees. Comfortable black boots covered her small feet.  
  
"PICCOLO!" she screeched. "What kind of an outfit is that."  
  
"One that will provide plenty of protection and mobility if it comes down to a fight, which it might," he replied, amused at her reaction to the revealing outfit.  
  
She tried to climb to her feet but winced from pain and almost stumbled. Before anyone had time to react 17 had scooped her into his arms and headed across the room, the others following.  
  
A screen suddenly blared to life directly in front of them, the light temporarily blinding them. They stared in surprise at the figures flashing across the screen.  
  
10, 9, 8,  
  
"It's a bomb," Rana rushed out hurriedly. "We've got to get out."  
  
7, 6, 5, 4,  
  
The group turned to fly through the hatch...  
  
3, 2,  
  
But it was already to late  
  
1.  
  
The room exploded into a world of brilliant flame. 

AN: Sorry this has taken so long, life kinda got in the way. Finals boyfriend, stuff like that. But, we finally got to see a bit of 18, I know everyone's been asking for that. Hopefully I still have readers after the horribly long time it has taken me to get back to work on this. sobs

Hope you enjoyed. (btw: many reviews encourage faster updating.) .

Sylvyr Elf


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